LondonMetric Property sells grocery building for £10.2m, Ashmore FY AuM grow
London open
The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,164.
Stocks to watch
LondonMetric Property said it had sold a grocery building in Liverpool for £10.2m.
The 29,000 sq ft asset was bought for £8.1m in 2014 and is let to Marks & Spencer and Aldi. It generates a rent of £0.5m a year.
The sale price is line with the 31 March 2021 book value and crystallises a 26% profit on cost and an ungeared internal rate of return of 9%, the company said.
Ashmore said assets under management grew 13% in the year to the end of June to $94.4bn.
Chief executive Mark Coombs said: "Ashmore has made significant progress against its strategic objectives over the past year, generated outperformance for clients, and the group's robust business model has delivered a financial performance that reflects the early stages of a cyclical recovery."
Newspaper round-up
Reddit is seeking to hire investment bankers and lawyers for an initial public offering in New York, two people familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency. Reddit was valued at $10bn in a private fundraising round last month. By the time the IPO would take place early next year, the online message board company is hoping it will be valued at more than $15bn, one of the sources said. - Guardian
Virgin Galactic has been grounded by US authorities after the plane carrying Sir Richard Branson to the edge of space veered off course on its return to earth. The Federal Aviation Authority is investigating the mishap involving SpaceShipTwo that occurred over New Mexico on its return to Spaceport America on July 11. - Telegraph
Cuts to commuter rail services threaten London's faltering recovery from the pandemic, business leaders have warned the Transport Secretary. Bosses said in a letter to Grant Shapps that service reductions would lead to overcrowding on the network, forcing commuters to travel to work by car or continue working from home. - Telegraph
One in ten shoppers opting for “buy now, pay later” services are being chased by debt collectors amid surging demand for this form of credit, according to a Citizens Advice report. Regulators urgently need to crack down on the offerings and ensure that there are clearer warnings to online shoppers who are entering a formal credit agreement and could be pursued for the money, the charity said. - The Times
US Close
Wall Street stocks closed in the green on Thursday, as investors digested a number of key data points.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.37% at 35,443.82, as the S&P 500 added 0.28% to 4,536.95 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.14% at 15,331.18.
The Dow closed 131.29 points higher on Thursday, reversing losses recorded in the prior session as market participants digested a number of major data points.